Nuggets win fourth straight road game, get big win in Cleveland

The Nuggets were able to walk out of Cleveland with not only a rare set of back-to-back wins, but also their fourth straight road win. Gary Harris led the way with an impressive 32-point outing while Will Barton added 23 points off the bench. The Nuggets 19 three pointers on 54.3 percent shooting was a key to securing a victory in the high scoring affair. LeBron added a 25-10-15 triple-double for the Cavaliers.

The Nuggets got off to a hot start with their first six in the rotation, and despite Jokic still not taking many shots early in the game, the ball was moving much better in Millsap’s second start. Richard Jefferson even found his way back into the rotation for the first time since January after receiving a video tribute in his return to the Q. With Torrey Craig sent back to the G League to rehab his injury it looked like primary defense on LeBron would be handled by Chandler and Jefferson for the night.

Denver’s shooting led them to an early 37-point first quarter followed by an equally impressive 36-point second quarter on their way towards their second highest first half of the season. Despite the offensive explosion there were still some concerns from the second unit, especially when Larry Nance Jr. was in the game. Nance brought energy against a tired second unit and even got the home crowd back into it with his poster dunk of Mason Plumlee that brought the lead back to two in the first half.

The second half had an eerie feel to it with Denver having come off two games with blown double-digit leads. Sure enough, Denver’s offense became heavily reliant on making shots late in the shot clock as Cleveland kept inching closer.

After a couple of minutes of a scoring drought for both teams the Nuggets needed a player to take over. While it was Millsap who hit the first clutch three pointer, it was Harris who made the extra pass to Paul. On the next possession Harris took it upon himself to step into a rhythm three from deep to give Denver all the momentum. Chandler then sent the final message with a slam to put the game away.

Denver played smart with the basketball tonight cutting their turnovers from 22 last night to nine tonight. In addition, the Nuggets outshot the Cavaliers by 17 percent from three by making 10 more three-point attempts than Cleveland. The loss brings LeBron’s record versus Denver to 12-15 in his career.

The Nuggets will have a couple of days off before traveling to Dallas to play the Mavericks in the first game of another back-to-back with Cleveland waiting back in Denver. Denver will have a chance to win the season series with the Mavericks 3-1 and a chance to sweep the Cavaliers.